Best yet to come for Briles, Baylor

Sports smorgasbord, while wondering whatever happened to former Stamford High football standout Dallas Christian?

When former Rule all-around athlete Art Briles got the head football coaching job at Baylor, most of the critics felt he had signed his career death warrant because the Waco school had been a graveyard for football coaches.

I was in the group that felt Briles, who turned around programs at Hamlin, Stephenville and the University of Houston, would be the one to turn the Bears around if anyone could.

So far he has. They won 10 games last season for the first time in modern history, won a bowl game, produced the Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III and has sent various players to the pros.

Granted, Baylor might not have been successful this past season without RG3, but Briles recruited him, so give the coaching staff a lot of credit. But save some for Griffin, who made the recruiting a lot easier for next year.

One of those guys who spend a lot of time on the road selling the program is Phillip Montgomery, the former Eastland High quarterback and the Bears' offensive coordinator who coached with Briles at Stephenville and Houston.

Another feather in Briles' cap was he was the only major college coach to offer a scholarship to Wylie quarterback Case Keenum, who broke most of the NCAA passing records at Houston.

Defense at Baylor has been a problem, but Montgomery and his cohorts have lined up help on that side of the ball for its 2013 class. Eight of the first 13 commits have come from defensive players and another could wind up in the secondary.

It wasn't too many years ago that most high school athletes would not have considered Baylor, but Griffin and Briles changed that with their combined efforts. It should get even better.

Trial run suits Eugene

Eugene, Ore., is making a pitch to host the Olympic Trials every year. There were over 21,000 fans sitting in the rain to watch the track portion the first part of last week.

Then on Thursday, after two days of no competition, the lines started forming two hours before the gates were open. You do not see that kind of attendance at track meets any more.

This is the second year in a row for Eugene to host it and city officials came up with ideas with track-related trips and displays to boost the meet.

Shipley shipshape again

Jordan Shipley and his father Bob, the head football coach at Brownwood High, put on a football camp in Austin recently with a lot of help from other UT football players. Jordan said the camp idea came from Bob, who had some spare time this summer and apparently had a good time with the kids.

Jordan, who played high school football at Rotan and Burnet and then at Texas, is getting ready for the Cincinnati Bengals training camp, where he is over the knee injury that cut last season short.

He sports a shaggy hairdo that caused his dad to comment, "I am proud of him, but I wish he would get his hair cut," But kids will be kids.

Keenum states his case

Apparently, Case Keenum is tired of hearing that he is too short and doesn't have a strong arm. It didn't slow him down in college where he had a record-setting career at Houston.

But his Houston Texans coaches and teammates are not among his critics. Keenum at 6-0 5/8 is shorter than most NFL quarterbacks and he says just because you are 6-4 doesn't mean you can play pro ball.

"If you move the ball down the field as a quarterback and breaking records like Drew Brees (New Orleans QB), nobody says anything about how tall you are," Keenum said recently. "If the offense is moving the ball down the field, it doesn't matter if you are 5-11 or 6-2."

Keenum said the pro draft days were not fun because his name was not one of the 253 called out, but when it was over, he knew where he was going — across town to the Texans as a free agent.

Don't be surprised if he doesn't get the last laugh at his critics.

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"I never blame myself when I'm not hitting. I just blame the bat and if it keeps up, I change bats. After all, if I know it isn't my fault that I'm not hitting, how can I get mad at myself?" — Baseball player Yogi Berra